


A muse amongst the muses

by Ash0605



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Birthday, Childhood Memories?, Comfort, Established Relationship, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Kotori and Eli are good beans they should hold hands more often, Or more accurately Kotori's old drawings, Tags Are Hard, There is one (1) birb in this fic so you've been warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:21:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26430328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ash0605/pseuds/Ash0605
Summary: Eli Ayase had been Kotori's muse for as long as she could remember. As the pair began dating, Kotori felt the nerve-wracking obligation to tell her that.Happy Birthday Kotori!
Relationships: Ayase Eli/Minami Kotori
Comments: 11
Kudos: 6





	A muse amongst the muses

“Eli, you’ve still got some cream on your face.”

Eli sat up on the sofa, wearing a green neck jumper and a beige pair of stylish trousers. “Where is it on my face exactly?” she asked.

“On your left cheek.”

“Ah, ok!”

Kotori stood at the entrance to the living room, completely transfixed by the movement of Eli’s tongue. Her face contorted and her brow furrowed as she tried to stretch her tongue far enough to reach the cream. The tongue returned to her mouth as the morsel was finally captured. Eli whined happily and smiled warmly to herself as she savored the sweet taste.

Kotori gulped, clutching the notebook in her arms tighter as if it were her favourite pillow. It felt unfair to feel so hot and warm at the same time, especially considering that Kotori was nervous already.

“That was delicious, you really do make the best ice cream.” Eli smiled. She shifted over to one side of the sofa and patted the empty space, prompting Kotori to shuffle over nervously and lower herself down. “What were you wanting to show me?”

Kotori freed the notebook from her grasp, placing it on her lap and patting it gently. The worn blue covers of the notebook were adorned with cute white birds of many sizes flying across the page. “This notebook here.” she explained. She kept her eyes averted from Eli’s curious gaze, instead reaching for the small brown coffee table in the center of the room and pulling it towards the pair, placing the book gently on its surface.

Kotori felt the solid cardboard between her fingers as she lifted the cover, revealing a creased A4 page. A drawing of a girl in a long flowing floral dress was scribbled in the center with annotations dotted around it in childish handwriting.

Eli leaned over and took an excited breath, her rising enthusiasm was almost palpable. “Are these the clothes drawings you did when you were young?”

Kotori nodded. “It is. I did drawings of dresses and cute clothes before this, but this is the notebook I’ve used to draw them in ever since I got it.”

“How old were you when you got this?” Eli asked curiously.

“I believe it was for my fifth birthday.” Kotori replied, fumbling with her fingers.

“That’s incredible!” Eli leaned over and studied the page. “You know, you had a fantastic sense of fashion when you were young. I would definitely wear this dress.”

Kotori felt a faint red hue paint her cheeks as she imaged the blonde in that same dress. “Thank you Eli. It means a lot coming from you.”

“May I continue looking through this?”

“Of course.”

The next few pages were occupied by an assortment of dresses and skirts, all of which Eli gushed about graciously. Kotori smiled and thanked Eli for each compliment and elaborated on any interesting details she could remember, to which Eli listened with keen interest. Deep down her sense of anticipation heightened as the page number increased.

Kotori felt herself tense up as a drawing she was expecting finally appeared. The yukata the girl was wearing was the key point of interest for Eli, who remarked at how graceful it was. Kotori’s eyes were fixed on the figures bright yellow hair.

As Kotori’s elementary school drawings continued in an assortment of dresses and skirts, the blonde figure became reoccurring. Eli didn’t ask many questions from this point, instead turning the page and marveling to herself about the designs. This was convenient for Kotori, whose racing heart inhibited her ability to answer anything.

The start of her middle school years prompted the start of her fascination with cosplay, which Eli observantly pointed out. The yellowed hair figure in her drawing took up many occupations, with police officers, firefighters, gardeners, office workers, teachers, shrine attendees and lawyers adorning the pages. It usually made Kotori chuckle seeing her younger self attempt to a draw a clown costume, but instead she felt a constricting sense of anticipation.

As her high school years started, her cosplay interests continued, alongside attempts at drawing her childhood friend’s kendo uniforms. However, both of these were dominated by Kotori’s obsession with maid uniforms. Instead of looking back at those times with embarrassment like she usually did, lamenting at the fact that the costumes got skimpier as the year went on, she looked on in horror at the figures striking ponytail. Eli had stopped commenting on the pictures, instead studying them closely before turning over the page.

Kotori let out a quiet shaky breath as her second year began, and costumes for µ’s started to fill the pages. Eli stopped for a few seconds at a double page containing concept ideas for _START:DASH!!_ and _Korekara no Someday’s_ costumes.

Eli stopped midway through turning over the page, where the concepts for _Bokura no LIVE kimi to no LIFE_ were drawn. Looking at the blonde figure wearing the familiar red dress, Eli’s breath hitched in realization.

Her eyes didn’t leave the page. “Are the figures wearing these clothes… meant to be me?”

Kotori hunched over and tightened her arms around her stomach. “I was… always wondering when the best time was to tell you. It was a… nagging feeling when you first joined µ’s, but I felt the sense of obligation after we started dating.” she admitted guiltily.

Eli nodded in understanding. She carefully flipped back through the book, settling on the first drawing with yellow hair. “If you don’t mind me asking, when was this first drawing done?”

“It was at the Gion festival when I was in my last year of preschool. I think you were in first grade.”

Kotori heard Eli shuffle closer to her and felt a light tap on her shoulder. She mustered the courage to raise her head, bracing for the shocked and overwhelmed expressions of her lover. Instead, she was met with Eli’s signature million-watt smile.

“I actually feel very flattered.” she reassured.

“R-really?”

Eli sat down next to Kotori and pulled her into a gentle embrace. “I do! Its almost as if we’ve always had a connection together, even if we hadn’t realized it. It makes me very happy.”

Kotori felt herself relax as she leaned into Eli’s hug, smiling indulgently at how warm she felt. “It… makes me really happy too!”

“Don’t answer this if you feel uncomfortable, but was I the reason that you… you know… started liking girls?” Eli asked slowly.

Kotori straightened up, the question making her blush. “I… think so? Actually… it definitely was. I don’t think I wouldn’t have drawn you for that long otherwise.”

“Ooooo! That’s interesting!” Eli chuckled softly. “It makes sense I suppose. I could tell there was more to those maid bikinis than what meets the eye.” she continued in a teasing tone.

The vivid image of first-year Kotori blushing as she drew the outfit was forcefully pushed out of her mind as she started to blush furiously. She tried to shove Eli away. “Eli! Don’t tease me about those! I don’t… look back on those times particularly fondly.”

“Haha! I’m sorry, but it’s fun to tease. If it’s any reassurance, I had my weird phases in high school too. An entire language on the tip of my tongue, yet _хорошо_ was the word I always seemed to resort to.” She squeezed Kotori tighter, the cuddle helping to calm Kotori where her weird phase admission didn’t. “Hey, this actually feels really exciting, doesn’t it?”

Kotori tilted her head. “How so?”

“Its hard to explain. I’ve already mentioned that we’ve had this odd connection, but it feels… as if we were always… fated to be together, don’t you agree?”

The idea of fate made Kotori feel warm. It all seemed to make so much sense. She reached for Eli’s face and gently placed her hand on her chin, promptly pulling her into a passionate kiss. Her lips tasted intoxicatingly sweet, and Kotori didn’t care about how much of that was due to the parfaits they had eaten earlier. Eli leaned in, gripping her hands behind Kotori’s head.

After a few blissful seconds she pulled back, gracing Eli with the most brilliant smile she could muster. “I agree!” she exulted. “It feels wonderful!”

**Author's Note:**

> ITS BIRB DAY!!! BIRB UP!!! (I can definitely say this two hours before the day ends don't worry)
> 
> The idea for this fic came from the opening of chapter six of the original Love Live manga. The second year trio see Eli at the Gion Festival as children and Honoka exclaims that she wants to grow up to be like Eli. I headcanon that Kotori took Eli as her muse for costume drawings after this day, and this fic is the result! Both of these ideas can coexist though, especially if the idea of growing to be like Eli is growing up to be super gay. I had so much fun writing this!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! If you have any comments or feedback feel free to leave them here! If you want to reach out on twitter feel free to do so at @ash060500
> 
> I hope you have a good rest of your day and I wish you the best in staying safe!


End file.
